Conscious of the realities of the socio-political environment around the world Sons of Paradise make it a mission to channel their inspirations in favor of equality, freedom, love, and nature through lyrically driven and uniquely melodic originals. Equipped with a good dose of poeticism, their creations turn out spontaneously fresh with a contemporary connection that holds universal value.
Sons of Paradise doesn’t limit its style to strict labels or genres. Although their musical base is “Reggae” you can find strong influences of different styles of Rock and Jazz music, Latin Beats and Ska, as well as a strong presence of Rap lyricism, an unbeatable synthesis of the Afro-Caribbean roots they pay homage to. The texture is rich in harmonies and rhythms alas producing a unique blend of sounds that continues to captivate different listeners around the world.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Sons of Paradise about the latest music, challenges, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
Raleigh, NC. We play Reggae Dub!
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
The opportunity to create music with a message – to continue the legacy of reggae music with our sound. We are motivated by the opportunity to speak up against what we seem as unjust, and also to celebrate life and nature through our music.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
This album was a journey. It taught us more than we thought! From working with world-class producers to seeing the uniqueness of our sound, Lift me Higher is a compilation of the beginning of our journey as a band. It also touches on some of the struggles we all have gone through in 2020 but with a positive message attached to it.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
Technology can be both a blessing and a curse. Sometimes it’s our best friend and can help us reach people in different parts of the world and sometimes it is a distraction. Folks too often value streams, numbers, and statistics over the actual quality of the music.
What was the last song you listened to?
Sweet Love by Fortunate Youth
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
MP3s for ease of access, but vinyl for sound quality.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
Spotify. It is such a powerful outreach tool for artists. They have great metrics for artists to track their progress and for artists to see exactly who is listening to their music. We just hope they start paying out for streams at a higher rate. We just got our Bandcamp setup, so hopefully we’ll soon have some activity there too, as it’s a great tool for fans to support bands.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5fBAZtGCe3ECGkgeuOfOG3
Facebook: www.facebook.com/sonsofparadise
Instagram: www.instagram.com/sonsofparadisemusic
Website: www.sonsofparadise.com
Bandcamp: https://sonsofparadise.bandcamp.com
